Octopus Overlords

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release: winter 2018

I've been coming across a few trailers for this, and since nobody took my hint to start a thread for it .. I shall. The game is in development, everything is pre-alpha. There has been no talk of game mechanics staying with the changes in 2205, or returning to the logistic chains of previous titles.

Anno 1800 | Bringing Back Classic RTS Gameplay Players Remember .. (nVidia: the way it's meant to be hyped)

ubisoft.com ... anno-1800

anno-union.com .. ubisoft wants your input .. yes, believe it

No Steam Page at this time

The Anno games are among the games that I desperately want to like but end up feeling hollow on, like you get to a point and then go "there should be something more going on here." I'm not even sure what that more is. Maybe something to make it less sandbox-y? I dunno.

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I enjoy the supply and demand mechanics of a game like this to, say, Cities:Skylines .. in which the only thing you supply is the services of police, fire, garbage-collection, etc .. in C:S I feel like I'm just watching. Due to medical issues I have troubles focusing on the nuances and my ability to fuss over the details is slipping more every day. ..

KDH wrote: Due to medical issues I have troubles focusing on the nuances and my ability to fuss over the details is slipping more every day. ..

Dude, looking at your forum avatar, I think if you just lay off the laser pointer for awhile you would be okay.

The last Anno game I played was 2070. I appreciate the complexity of the supply chains, the factions, and the various challenges. But my "empire" got to the point where it was so complex and so fragile that, after a tornado tore up the map, I couldn't bring myself to spend hours rebuilding and rebalancing and revising trade routes just to regain lost ground. It was more frustrating than fun and I put it away.

Still, I'd consider 1800, if only because I like the setting better and I'm a sucker for citybuilders.

I'm happy to see it go back to its roots in non-SciFi times. I'll be watching this.

Thanks for the links, KDH.

I am looking forward to playing Anno 1800.

Wiki

Anno 1800 takes place in the 19th century at the dawn of the Industrial Age. The game will feature a story campaign, a sandbox mode, and multiplayer mode. Like Anno 2205, the game will feature multi-session gameplay, though unlike its predecessor, combat and city-building sessions will not be separated. Furthermore, randomly generated maps, AI opponents that build on the same map as the player, in addition to shippable trade goods and items will make a return from the previous installments of the series.
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The blueprint mode of Anno 1800 is one of the new additions to the series. It helps the player by allowing them to plan out their city with silhouetted "blueprint" buildings, without immediately spending valuable resources on actually constructing them. If a player wants to construct a building, but has insufficient resources, it can also place a blueprint of the building for later, when the player has acquired more resources. Once planning is done, and the necessary resources are gathered, each building in the blueprint can be built with a single click.

Sounds like good stuff. The release is now towards the end of April which is a shame since I have more free time now. But it's going to be high on my anticipation list, which is a real thing I'm not the least embarrassed to talk about

Uh oh.... I just received this email from Steam:

Sales of Anno 1800 will be discontinued on Steam after April 16th, due to a publisher decision to limit distribution of the game. The publisher has assured us that all prior sales of the game on Steam will be fulfilled on Steam, and Steam owners will be able to access the game and any future updates or DLC through Steam.

We don’t know whether or not the game will become available on Steam again in the future. We wanted to let you know in advance so you can buy the game on Steam if you wish.

We apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale after the April 16th release date.

The Steam Team

And on the Steam Store page

Notice: Sales of Anno 1800 will be discontinued on Steam after April 16th due to a publisher decision to make the game exclusive to another PC store.

The publisher has assured us that all prior sales of the game on Steam will be fulfilled on Steam, and Steam owners will be able to access the game and any future updates or DLC through Steam.

We apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale after the April 16th release date.

The game has been "Epic'd."

Not to mention priced out of sight.

How much? The Annos have never been my favorite citybuilders (trade networks are too complex and easily disrupted) but I'll sometimes buy them on the cheap. Although probably not if they aren't on steam.

Open beta starts tomorrow at 5pm PDT so folks can decide for themselves if they want to purchase it. I've already pre-ordered the deluxe edition, the Anno series is my favorite of all time.

Greenmangaming has it at 15% off for the base game. Goes through ubisoft.

Lorini wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:58 am Open beta starts tomorrow at 5pm PDT so folks can decide for themselves if they want to purchase it.

That's what I like about Ubisoft, I've been able to try a number of their games in open beta without a commitment. Thanks for posting about this, I'll be watching for the pre-load.

For those interested, it can also be downloaded through the Uplay client.

Lorini, those are some pretty screenshots on that page. It's a shame that my cities always look like shambles when I built them in the Anno series

Also, any particular reason you decided to go with the Deluxe version? I'm not really all that up on the options; does the Anarchist mission add a lot of content?

Firstly because I love love love all of the Anno games and wanted to give back a little. Then I also wanted the full soundtrack, the music was fantastic in the closed beta. I also liked the logos. Didn't care about the mission, I never do missions in Anno games .

I put in several hours on the open beta tonight. I haven't played an Anno game in quite a while but it does feel familiar. Compared to the latest Tropico game, which I have recently played, it does feel more frantic, in that there are a lot of things going on that have to be monitored, as well as many opportunities such as exploring and trade that I'm missing out on because I'm trying to keep my head above water. I played the first chapter of the campaign, which wasn't too bad, but felt very artificial in presenting goals to you. I then put in a couple of hours on a sandbox with the default, normal settings. Things didn't go too badly for awhile, but by the time I was trying to get artisans I was burning through money even though I was exporting everything above bare minimums.

It's also a bit of a struggle to forget what I learned in Tropico about putting living places near work places, since in this game there is no tracking about how close or far a residence is from work. That's fine, things would get rather insane otherwise. I did get carried away with trying to produce everything myself instead of importing critical items and I got rather twisted round the axle.

Another issue was that I'm still struggling to understand how many of the raw resource producers I need for the next step in the production chain. For instance, I thought I was doing OK with one potato farm to support one snaupps distillery, but I kept running out of potatoes. I think the distance required to bring resources is affecting me too.

Not to say in any of the above that I think the game isn't good. It is a lot of fun, the graphics are great and the sandbox is very flexible in settings. I think I just need to start off with a very simple sandbox game with lots of money and easy settings so I can play around with different approaches.

Since no progress will carry over from the beta to the release, I'm not going to pursue the campaign any more. I'll just tinker with the sandbox and see if I want to pre-order or maybe wait for the first sale.

The campaign is actually a tutorial and turns into a sandbox game relatively early anyway. Yeah I could spend a couple thousand hours playing this I think

Lorini wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:19 pm Yeah I could spend a couple thousand hours playing this I think

Isn't it great when you find a game like that? I've not had too many, but it's wonderful when it happens

Is this going to be taken off Steam's store forever? Or is this just a limited time exclusivity thing?

wonderpug wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:34 pm Is this going to be taken off Steam's store forever? Or is this just a limited time exclusivity thing?

Time limited I think. However, the game launches through the Uplay client, so you can buy it direct through Ubisoft or a third party like Green Man Gaming. I've used GMG for years, very reliable.

wonderpug wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:34 pm Is this going to be taken off Steam's store forever? Or is this just a limited time exclusivity thing?

My understanding from all they've said is that it will not return to Steam ever. If you pre order you'll be able to buy the DLC and you'll get all the patches, but never the game after release.

Lorini wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:58 pm

wonderpug wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:34 pm Is this going to be taken off Steam's store forever? Or is this just a limited time exclusivity thing?

My understanding from all they've said is that it will not return to Steam ever. If you pre order you'll be able to buy the DLC and you'll get all the patches, but never the game after release.

Yup, I went back and saw that the possibility of being time limited hasn't been officially announced or even hinted at, so there's no assurance it will ever happen.

Also, if you've been accumulating the Uplay Club points, you might be able to use 100 of those points to get 20% off one purchase. I think you can do this once every twelve months. I might go ahead and buy it on Uplay because of that, it beats the GMG 15% discount.

UPDATE: And don't forget that if you buy the game you can use the Club points to get some Rewards.

I went back to continue the campaign and turns out I was five minutes away from reaching the end of it in the open beta . So I went to my sandbox game and I'm lost on something. How do I create a trading post on another island?

You need a ship with the stuff to make a warehouse. Then send the ship to the island and put it near a coast. You'll barely see the outline of the warehouse, click on that and you'll have a new trading post for your island. Keep in mind that islands now need people living on them to do anything.

I put in about six or seven hours on the open beta, about evenly split between the campaign and a sandbox game. I've decide not to pick up the game because after about 3-4 hours on the sandbox I felt like that guy running around on the stage trying to keep all the plates spinning. I had two new islands going plus my starting one and I just felt like I wasn't being able to keep up with everything I needed to do to keep everything healthy, much less expanding. This plus the expeditions and the quests and it just wasn't being fun for me. And I think this was also influenced by the fact that when you pause the game you can't interact with it. Normal speed, the slowest available, was just a bit too fast to enjoy things. So I'll wait and maybe consider getting it later on.

Also influencing the decision was that Imperator: Rome is coming out on the 25th and I might be picking that up. Or not.

Well, this has been a toss-up for Ubisoft. Because of the open beta access I decided not to get Anno 1800, but because of the open (and closed) beta access I decided to get The Division 2 after initially thinking I was going to pass on it.

Well, I'm liking what I see so far, but unfortunately I can't get very far in the main quest.

First try, I get stuck with "stock up 4 work clothes". I have like 30 work clothes at one point, nothing. I get my dock to sell everything so I'm down to zero, then restock up to 4. Still nothing. Next I try restarting a new campaign, and success: I get past the work clothes quest! ...and then get stuck being asked to "retrieve an item from Soandso". I retrieve it, and the quest doesn't proceed.

I'm tempted to abandon the quest and just jump right into sandbox, but I've never really played an Anno game before and I was looking forward to the extra handholding. Might just wait for a patch, I guess.

Been busy, so only played a little of this the night it came out, but seems like a solid update of the series so far with some nice UI enhancements.

Of note, I really like that buildings tell you how long they take to produce an item which you can use to properly setup your production chain (1 of this building can feed 3 of this building, etc). I also like it shows clearly at the top of the screen how many free citizens of each category you have available.

Will probably play Warhammer as time allows the next few days, but this is likely next on my list to dig into.

Thanks to folks for posting their impressions. I might pick this up sometime later when things are less busy for me. End of tax season means weeks of equipment inventory, transport and storing and other administrative work. And I don't even have a cute redhead in a pirate ship chasing me

wonderpug wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:52 am Well, I'm liking what I see so far, but unfortunately I can't get very far in the main quest.

First try, I get stuck with "stock up 4 work clothes". I have like 30 work clothes at one point, nothing. I get my dock to sell everything so I'm down to zero, then restock up to 4. Still nothing. Next I try restarting a new campaign, and success: I get past the work clothes quest! ...and then get stuck being asked to "retrieve an item from Soandso". I retrieve it, and the quest doesn't proceed.

I'm tempted to abandon the quest and just jump right into sandbox, but I've never really played an Anno game before and I was looking forward to the extra handholding. Might just wait for a patch, I guess.

Sorry I didn't do the campaign, I don't see why you can't just start with sandbox. Just choose "more guidance".

Lorini wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:28 pm

wonderpug wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:52 am snip

Sorry I didn't do the campaign, I don't see why you can't just start with sandbox. Just choose "more guidance".

Thanks! I'll switch to sandbox if I encounter another problem, but turns out the "retrieve an item" quest was my fault. I had clicked on the villager and he said he wanted me to have a gift, but apparently that spawned a small crate down the street a bit which was what I was supposed to click on.

For those still playing Anno 1800 (I swear, someday I'm going to get back into this game!) here is information on what is the last planned DLC, Land of Lions. From the PCGamesN article Anno 1800’s jaw-dropping Land of Lions will ripple across the game

My reputation as a successful city planner precedes me. No sooner has my cargo ship pitched up in Anno 1800’s latest region, Enbesa, than the local Emperor Ketema is asking me to build him his capital city. It’s like that bit in the Inbetweeners when Jay is scouted for England because he took Woking to the Champions League in Championship Manager, except, y’know. It’s still a videogame. I expect my call-up to the council planning office any day now.

Unfortunately, Ketema’s grand project has its dissenters, and their discontent is the reason that Land of Lions is the most story-rich of all Anno 1800’s expansions to date.

Lorini wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:28 pm Sorry I didn't do the campaign, I don't see why you can't just start with sandbox. Just choose "more guidance".

This is what I'm doing now. I put in a few hours on the game quite a while ago, but I think the campaign was too tied to a story line I didn't care about and by the time I went through all that I lost interest. So I'm just starting the normal sandbox with "more guidance" to get me ready for that new DLC.

I've put in about eight hours on a new playthrough in Sandbox mode. Now I remember what turned me off first time through, it was the feeling of "spinning plates" where you have so many things going on and you can't do anything in Pause mode. However, I've got a better handle on tackling problems and keeping track of what needs a higher level of attention. I do hate the pirate lady in the game as I'm having to keep replacing ships I lose to her.

Money was an issue for awhile, I had to sell off one of my shares to keep my head up. However, I've been making money more steadily and understanding what I have to do to keep things going more smoothly. I think my biggest failing has been in setting up new colonies, I've only expanded to one more in the Old World and one in the New World. I feel like I should be doing more, but I've really just been trying to keep everything from going into a death spiral .

It's been a while since I played it, but as I recall I didn't have much trouble with the pirates by keeping a fleet of 3-4 warships on the water and using them to hunt down every pirate ship as they spawn. It was kind of annoying and no challenge, but it worked. Also don't forget you can assign warships to escort your merchant ships.

I just don't include the the pirates, problem solved Love the way you can make the game harder or easier with the NPC's.

Lorini wrote: ↑Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:02 pm I just don't include the the pirates, problem solved Love the way you can make the game harder or easier with the NPC's.

Wish I'd thought to look for that pirate setting in the options for this first Sandbox playthrough . On the other hand I now have a real factory town for making cannons

I did get around to setting up two more colonies in the old world and one additional one in the new world. It's funny that in most of the city builders/business games I've played I go through the same early to mid-game cycle, where early on I have enough money, I reach a crisis point where I'm going into negative numbers, then at some point I've got the money rolling in.

And I do have to admit it, this game is more fun than Port Royale 4 . Not dealing with the campaign scripting made it easier for me to chart my own way, although I really did wait too long before getting around to additional colonies. My main town is still at the Artisan level, where I'm feeling like Señor Wences running back and forth looking for plates starting to spin down.

I'm still a bit hampered by my Tropico experience where I'm worried about how far my citizens have to travel to work . In Anno 1800 apparently my very healthy citizens don't mind walking all over the island to get to their jobs!